Sarah Phipps-USA TODAY Sports
Olympic rowers next to crocodile
Australia has around six years to prepare for its upcoming duties as the host of the Summer Olympics, which will unfold in Brisbane in 2032. That’s probably a good thing, as it will give officials plenty of time to put together a contingency plan for some competition that will be held in a river that’s teeming with crocodiles.
It’s been more than 25 years since the last time the Summer Olympics went down in Australia. The Games were held in Sydney in 2000 and marked a return to a country that hosted them for the first time in 1956 (when every event unfolded in Melbourne aside from the equestrian competitions, which transpired in Stockholm).
In 2021, the International Olympic Committee announced that its premier event would be heading back to The Land Down Under when Brisbane got the nod for 2032, which gave the city and the surrounding area more than a decade to gear up for the international showdown.
It’s far too early to predict which athletes will earn the right to represent their country, but some of them will head to Australia knowing they’ll be sharing the water with crocodiles as they vie for a medal.
The rowing and canoeing events at the 2032 Summer Olympics will be held in a river that’s home to around 500 crocodiles
Rowing has been a staple of the Summer Olympics since they were held in Paris in 1900.
Canoeing, on the other hand, was introduced as a demonstration sport in the same city in 1924, and it’s remained a staple of the official lineup since the Games were held in Germany in Berlin in 1936.
They will once again return in 2032, and according to the BBC, organizers recently settled on the body of water that will host the events at the Olympics and the Paralympics: the Fitzroy River, an approximately 300-mile stretch in Queensland that empties into the Coral Sea (a stretch near the city of Rockhampton will serve as the course).
That decision managed to turn some heads, as the outlet notes the river in question is home to an estimated 500 saltwater crocodiles that reside in its water and on its banks. However, officials have downplayed concerns when it comes to the threat those animals pose to athletes, noting the Fitzroy “is already a training and competition venue for flatwater sports, supporting school state championships, local regattas, and national team training camps.”
It’s worth noting that World Rowing and Paddle Worldwide endorsed the decision, but The Guardian reports more than 500 athletes signed an open letter pushing for the construction of a dedicated course closer to Brisbane while citing currents and flooding that have the potential to impact results.
This isn’t the first time there have been safety concerns linked to water-based events at the Olympics, but they usually don’t involve potentially dangerous animals; untreated sewage was an issue in Rio in 2016, and there were some similar problems when athletes were subjected to the Seine in Paris in 2024.